ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Tourism
Ministry of Tourism to organise the SCO Millets Food Festival from 13th -19th April 2023 in Mumbai
Ministry of Tourism, Government of India will organise the 4th and last event SCO Millets Food Festival from 13th -19th April 2023 in Mumbai at Taj Mahal Palace where Chefs from SCO member countries  and will attend the 9 day event and showcase their various cuisines and offer to the guest at the hotel. Taj Mahal Palace will be hosting the SCO Millet Food Festival to commemorate the International Year of Millets . This festival will feature a selection of organic meals made with millets that have been hand-selected by our SCO Member Chefs. From 14th to 19th of April the festival will be open to public for lunch and dinner at Shamiana Restaurant, Taj Mahal palace Hotel, Mumbai.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization  is an Intergovernmental Organization comprising eight Member States China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, four Observer States and fourteen “Dialogue Partners”
India is hosting presidency of SCO for the year 2023, the Ministry of Tourism Government of India has successfully completed SCO Tourism Mart from 9th - 11th February 2023, SCO Expert Level Tourism Working Group Meeting and SCO Tourism Minister's Meeting in Kashi  from 13th - 18th March 2023 during the meeting discussed the Joint Action Plan for implementing the Agreement between the Governments of the SCO Member States on the Development of Cooperation in Tourism. The Experts from the member countries of SCO prioritised various activities under areas of cooperation such as Promotion of the SCO tourism brand, Promotion of the cultural heritage of the SCO Member States in tourism, Sharing and Exchange of information and digital technology in tourism, Promotion of mutual cooperation in medical and health tourism, Improving the quality of services.
The SCO countries have a diverse mix of cultures and traditions, which is aptly reflected in their cuisines. The cuisine of SCO countries will offer unique delights to food lovers. With the aim to create awareness and increase the production & consumption of millets, United Nations had declared 2023 the International Year of Millets. The idea behind the international year is to promote millets as they are climate resilient and consuming them can help the world meet at least six United Nations-mandated sustainable development goals.
Spearheaded by the Prime Minister, the Government of India sponsored the proposal for International Year of Millets  2023 which was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly . The declaration has been instrumental for the Government of India to be at the forefront in celebrating the IYM. The PM of India, Shri Narendra Modi has also shared his vision to make IYM 2023 a ‘People’s Movement’ alongside positioning India as the ‘Global Hub for Millets’.
Special Service and Features
Shri. C. Nedunchezhian took charge as the Principal Accountant General Of Tamil Nadu
Today , Shri C Nedunchezhian took charge as the Principal Accountant General  I of Tamil Nadu.
Shri C Nedunchezhian is a 1996 batch IAAS officer.
As the Principal Accountant General  I, he heads the State level audit body of CAG, which is responsible for auditing 21 out of the 37 departments of the State Government, including Finance, Revenue, Health, Education, Local Bodies etc., and the autonomous bodies and PSUs coming under these departments. His office is submits several audit reports on various topics to the State Legislature every year.
Shri C Nedunchezhian carries rich experience in the audit of both Central Ministries and State Departments. He has also conducted audit of UN of UNAIDS, IARC and the UN headquarters in New York. He has served as an Audit Expert with the Supreme Audit Institution of the Sultanate of Oman.
On taking over charge as the Principal Accountant General,
Shri Nedunchezhian reviewed the ongoing audits of his office and encouraged his officers to put their best efforts to fulfil the mandate of CAG to ensure the accountability of the Executive to the Legislature.
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Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
COVID-19 Vaccination Update - Day 355
More than 1 Cr Vaccine Doses administered among Adolescents between 15-18 age group
India’s cumulative vaccination coverage crosses 148.58 crore
More than 82 lakh Vaccine doses administered today till 7 pm
In a landmark achievement, more than 1 Cr  COVID-19 Vaccine Doses administered among adolescents between 15-18 age group that too on the 3rd day of vaccination drive for adolescents. India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 148.58 Crore  today. More than 82 lakh  Vaccine Doses have been administered till 7 pm today. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight.
In a tweet, Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya praised the enthusiasm among Adolescents for Vaccination and congratulated them on this achievement. He also appealed to all eligible adolescents to get vaccinated at the earliest.
The cumulative coverage of vaccine doses, segregated based on population priority groups, is as follows:
|
|
Cumulative Vaccine Dose Coverage
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|
HCWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
10388540
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
9728000
|
|
FLWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
18386552
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
16931563
|
|
Age Group 15-18 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
12402515
|
|
Age Group 18-44 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
507172509
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
343132537
|
|
Age Group 45-59 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
195388238
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
153619681
|
|
Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
121885604
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
96783752
|
|
Cumulative 1st dose administered
|
|
865623958
|
|
Cumulative 2nd dose administered
|
|
620195533
|
|
Total
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|
1485819491
Today’s achievement in the vaccination exercise, segregated by population priority groups, is as follows:
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|
Date: 5th January, 2021 
|
|
HCWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
107
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|
2nd Dose
|
|
3515
|
|
FLWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
112
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
6442
|
|
Age Group 15-18 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
3744635
|
|
Age Group 18-44 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1801076
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
1755601
|
|
Age Group 45-59 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
131693
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
470344
|
|
Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
67687
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
244999
|
|
1st Dose Administered in Total
|
|
5745310
|
|
2nd Dose Administered in Total
|
|
2480901
|
|
Total
|
|
8226211
The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.
Ministry of Coal
Production of Coal by CIL
Coal India Limited  has increased its production of coal from 462.41 MT in 2013-14 to 567.36 MT in 2017-18  resulting in an absolute increase of 105 MT as compared to increase of coal production of 31.15 MT between 2009-10 and 2013-14 .
Further, in the current year during April-November, 2018, all India coal production was 433.90 MT with a growth rate of 9.8% and coal production of CIL was 358.32 MT with a growth rate of 8.8% over the corresponding period of previous year.
The Off-take/sale of coal from Coal India Limited Sources during last five years is given below:
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Year
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Total Offtake/Sale 
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Growth %
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2013-14
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471.58
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|
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2014-15
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489.38
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3.8%
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2015-16
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534.5
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9.2%
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2016-17
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|
543.32
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|
1.7%
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|
2017-18
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|
580.29
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|
6.8%
There has been progressive growth in offtake/sale from CIL sources. Coal India Limited  has increased its coal offtake from 471.58 MT in 2013-14 to 580.28 MT in 2017-18  resulting in an absolute increase of 109 MT as compared to increase of coal offtake of 55.70 MT between 2009-10 and 2013-14 .
In the year 2018-19  also, CIL has registered a growth of 6.5% in coal offtake by achieving a dispatch of 391.82 Million tonnes against a dispatch of 367.99 Million tonnes achieved during same period of previous year.
During this fiscal upto November 2018, against the total Coal based Power Generation program of 663.60 Billion units, actual generation has been about 658 Billion units, thereby achieving 99.2% materialization of program and registering a growth of 5.5% over last year same period. Further, the generation by domestic coal based power plants was 605.01 BU, which was 101 % of program generation. This has been possible due to increased supply of coal to the power sector. During April-Nov 2018, Coal India Ltd. has supplied 315.94 MT of coal to power sector at a growth of more than 8% compared to the supply of 291.78 MT in the corresponding period of last year.
As per CEA report coal stock at Power House end as on 25.12.2018 is 15.86 MT as against the stock of 12.92 MT on 25.12.2017 thereby registering an increase of 22.75%.
In order to enhance coal production, the focus of the Government is on increasing domestic production of coal which includes efforts to expedite Environment & Forest clearances expeditiously, pursuing with State Government for assistance in land acquisition and coordinated efforts with Railways for movement of coal.
This information was given in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.
Prime Minister's Office
PM greets people on the occasion of Janmashtami
PM greets people on the occasion of Janmashtami
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has greeted the people on the occasion of Janmashtami.
“श्रीकृष्ण जन्माष्टमी के पावन पर्व की सभी देशवासियों को बहुत-बहुत शुभकामनाएं। Greetings on Janmashtami,” the Prime Minister said.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
Financial assistance for sugarcane farmers
With a view to facilitate export of sugar during the sugar season 2020-21 and thereby improving the liquidity position of sugar mills enabling them to clear cane price dues of farmers for sugar season 2020-21, Central Government has approved Rs. 3500 crores for providing assistance to sugar mills for expenses on marketing costs including handling, upgrading and other processing costs and costs of international and internal transport and freight charges on export of sugar.
In order to ensure that the assistance is directly credited into the accounts of farmers, the sugar mill shall open a separate no-lien account in a nationalized bank/cooperative bank and furnish to that bank the list of farmers along with bank accounts details and extent of cane price dues payable to the farmers for the sugar season 2020-21 and cane price arrears of previous sugar seasons, duly certified by the Cane Commissioner / Director of Sugar of the state concerned. The bank shall credit the amount of assistance to the farmers’ accounts on behalf of the mills against cane dues payable and subsequent balance, if any, shall be credited into mill’s account.
The decision will improve the liquidity position of sugar mills and enable them to clear cane price dues of farmers. There are about 5 crore sugarcane farmers including their families, which will be benefited by this decision.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Danve Raosaheb Dadarao in Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Education
Integrating education with rural development
The National Education Policy  2020 paras 4.27, 5.25 and 5.6 highlight the importance of agriculture in education. They have emphasized the need to teach at schools or school complexes as ‘master instructors’, for the purpose of promoting local professions, knowledge, and skills, e.g., local art, music, agriculture, business, sports, carpentry, and other vocational crafts. Para 4.27 has mentioned that “Knowledge of India”, incorporates agriculture alongwith with other themes in an accurate and scientific manner throughout the school curriculum. The National Curriculum Framework under NEP 2020 is incorporating agriculture in the curriculum framework.
The information was given by the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Subhas Sarkar in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
Special Service and Features
SSC invites applications for Sub-Inspector in Delhi Police and Central Armed Police Forces Examination, 2023 & Junior Engineer  Examination, 2023
Kochi: August 04,02023
The Staff Selection Commission will be conducting open Competitive Computer Based Examination's for Sub-Inspector in Delhi Police and Central Armed Police Forces Examination, 2023 & Junior Engineer  Examination, 2023 during the month of October, 2023 in all over the country.
Only online application will be entertained for this examination. The online submission of the application may be made at website https://ssc.nic.in. For scheme of examination, syllabus and other details candidates are advised to refer the SSC Notice's dated 22/07/2023 and 26/07/2023 respectively uploaded in the website www.ssckkr.kar.nic.in and https://ssc.nic.in
The last date for receiving online applications from candidates for Sub-Inspector in Delhi Police and Central Armed Police Forces Examination, 2023 is 15/08/2023  and for Junior Engineer  Examination, 2023 is 26/08/2023 .
Fee is exempted for candidates belonging to Female/SC/ST/PWD/Ex-Serviceman categories eligible for reservations for the above recruitment.
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Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Guidelines on Public Procurement
The Public Procurement , Order 2017   was issued pursuant to Rule 153 of the General Financial Rules 2017 as an enabling provision to promote domestic value addition in public procurement. The policy aims at incentivizing production linked through local content requirements, thereby encouraging domestic manufacturers’ participation in public procurement activities over entities merely importing to trade or assemble items. This Order is applicable on procurement of goods, services and works  by a Central Ministry, Department, their attached, subordinate offices, autonomous bodies controlled by the Government of India, Government companies, their Joint Ventures and Special Purpose Vehicles. As per PPP-MII Order, purchase preference is given to local suppliers who meet the minimum local content requirement. Further, various Ministries and Departments have been designated as nodal for notifying minimum local content for the relevant product categories.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Ministry of Electronics & Information technology, Department of Heavy Industry, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Railways, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Department of Fertilizers, Department of Defence Production, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Mines, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry of New & Renewal Energy and Ministry of Textiles have issued notifications for Minimum Local Contents.
The notifications issued by Nodal Ministries and Departments are available on the departmental website dipp.gov.in. Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Defence and Ministry of Power are yet to issue the notification for Minimum Local Contents for their respective product segments.
Following mechanism has been put in place for strict monitoring of implementation of PPP-MII Order by Central Government agencies:
- All procuring entities have to certify compliance with the provisions of the Order while publishing any tender on Central Public Procurement Portal.
- Stakeholders can lodge online complaint on Central Public Procurement Portal for alleged violation of the Order.
- A Cell has been created in DPIIT to take up grievances for alleged violation of the Order with procuring entities.
- Grievance redressal and sector specific meetings are held to resolve the grievances.
- Standing Committee has been constituted under PPP - MII Order to oversee the implementation.
The proposed new Industrial Policy is to be a roadmap for all business enterprises in the country. In this regard, consultations have been held with stakeholders to get their ideas and feedback.
This information was given by the Minister of State of Commerce and Industry, C. R. Chaudhary, in written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Science & Technology
Solar Physicist’s study of plasma blobs after biggest solar flare of the decade could shed light on mechanism of such flares
The research undertaken by ARIES, Nainital of DST and its collaborators will appear in Astronomy and Astrophysics journal soon
Solar flares or sudden explosion of energy caused by tangling, crossing, or reorganizing of magnetic field lines near sunspots and active regions, has been probed by scientists for years, and much of it still remain a mystery.
In order to delve deep into the intrigue of the solar flares, solar physicists have explored the first evidence of a significant number of plasma blobs, which they have observed associated with the biggest solar flare of the decade on September 10, 2017. Their statistical analysis of the plasma blobs or plasmoids, which are aftermaths of the solar flare, reveals a very hot current sheet with temperature over 20 million Kelvin.
Figure 1: Standard flare-CME model depicting a current sheet between the post-flare loops and the ejecting flux rope that forms a CME. 
These current sheets are formed when magnetic fields of opposite polarities come close to each other and reconfigure, giving rise to a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection. This process is accompanied by the release of large amount of energy stored in the magnetic fields very fast and drives the eruption  as well as heat the local plasma. Thus, the current sheets are often very hot.
Recently, the solar physicists at Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences  Nainital, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology , Government of India, along with their collaborators from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias , Tenerife, Spain and the University of Oslo, Norway, used the imaging observations from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory , and Solar and Heliospheric Observatory , and KCor coronagraph in Mauna Loa Solar Observatory , to observe a very hot current sheet with temperature over 20 million Kelvin associated with the biggest solar flare of the decade observed on September 10, 2017. This study will appear in an upcoming issue of the Astronomy and Astrophysics journal.
The research provides the first evidence of significant number of plasma blobs along with the current sheet in the wake of a solar flare that could help delve deeper into solar flares.
Figure 2: An example of plasmoids observed in simulation by Huang et al.  in the top panel. The observed plasmoids in SDO/AIA observed in 131 Å wavelength images presented in this study. It could be seen that multiple plasmoids are observed at an instant, as predicted by simulations.
It could be a step further in our understanding on the role of formation of plasma blobs in current sheets for dissipating a large amount of magnetic energy in a short time during or after solar flares.
[Publication link:
Arxiv link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.03326
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039000 ]
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
I&B Ministry hikes advertisement rates for print media by 25%
Decision to be of immense benefit to small and medium newspapers including those in regional and vernacular languages
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has taken a decision to revise the advertisement rates for print media by announcing a hike of 25% over and above the existing rate structure for advertisement in print media by the Bureau of Outreach and Communication . The decision takes place w.e.f today and will be valid for a period of three years.
The last such revision had taken place in 2013 when an increase of 19% had been announced over and above the rates of 2010.
This decision has been taken based on the recommendations of the 8th Rate Structure Committee constituted by I&B Ministry which took into account several factors, including the increase in price of news print, processing charges and other factors which go into the computation of advertisement rates.
The decision will be of great benefit especially to the medium and small newspapers including a large number of such papers in regional and vernacular languages.
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
Propagation of Road Safety Messages to sensitize the general public about road safety
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has issued the road safety messages to be propagated amongst the general public to sensitize them about road safety.
The messages may be accessed through following links: -
https://pib.gov.in/InfographicsDetails.aspx?Id=1172
https://pib.gov.in/InfographicsDetails.aspx?Id=1173
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9rjEeAY-Xc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXiy41UFNrw
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati signs MoU with Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics
In a landmark step, India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology today. Under the ambit of this MoU, 51 DTH education TV channels comprising of Swaymprabha  , e-Vidya for classes 1 to 12  of NCERT, Vande Gujarat   and DigiShala under M/o Electronics and IT  shall be available as DD co-branded channels to all DD FreeDish viewers.
This move aims to bring quality educational programmes to every household, including those in rural and remote areas. The services will be available free of cost for all the viewers 24x7, in line with Government’s commitment towards skill development and providing quality education to the last person in the country. This Government initiative will go a long way in achieving Government’s goal of providing education to all.
Prime Minister's Office
PM lauds the grit and tenacity of Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula for winning the Gold Medal in Mixed Doubles Table Tennis
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has lauded Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula for winning Gold Medal in Mixed Doubles Table Tennis at Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022.
The Prime Minister tweeted;
"Playing and winning together has its own joys. @sharathkamal1 and Sreeja Akula have shown superb teamwork and won the coveted Gold medal in the TT Mixed Doubles event. I laud their grit and tenacity. Sharath reaching the finals of all CWG events he competed in is outstanding."
Ministry of Science & Technology
NAC discussed the way forward for National Initiative on Science, Technology and Innovation Statistics 
The first meeting of the National Advisory Committee of the National Initiative on Science, Technology and Innovation Statistics  discussed the way forward for the initiative.
It was decided that the Detailed Project Report  for the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Statistics will be prepared by the Project Monitoring Unit  at the Indian Institute of Science  Bengaluru.
Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Professor Ajay K Sood, who chaired the meeting, underlined the importance of the initiative and the urgent need to establish the centre to start focused work on it.
“Data is critical for knowledge-based decisions. While data is being collected by the different ministries, its centralised management is essential for taking critical decisions in the future,” he pointed out.
Secretary, Department of Science and Technology , Dr Srivari Chandrasekhar, welcomed the initiative, highlighting the range of data that is already available with the department and emphasized the need to add to it.
Senior Adviser, DST, Dr Akhilesh Gupta, stressed on the need for a one-stop coordinated effort to bring the various efforts of accumulation of data and presented the tentative structure of the centre. He gave examples of international best practices of such efforts in USA and Japan.
Director Indian Institute of Science , Professor Govindan Rangarajan, elaborated on the functioning of the future centre at IISc.
Experts from scientific establishments discussed the governance, functioning and way forward for the center.
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SNC/RR
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